New rules tighten reins on lobbyists

Disclosure required for all who are paid

SAN DIEGO – People who are paid to influence the decisions of top-ranking city officials in San Diego will enter the new year with tougher disclosure rules about whom they are talking to and why.

Agreeing with the city's Ethics Commission that the former set of rules for lobbyists was riddled with loopholes, the City Council tightened the lobbying ordinance in a 7-0 vote in July. The new rules take effect tomorrow.

A central change involves who should register as a lobbyist with the City Clerk's Office. The registration threshold used to be anyone who is paid $2,730 per quarter to lobby city officials, but the triggering amount has been lowered to $1 to get a fuller picture of who is wooing the city's decision makers.

San Diego's lobbying rules were enacted in 1973 and revised in 1998. Stacey Fulhorst, executive director of the Ethics Commission, said the latest overhaul was overdue.

The urgency for greater disclosure followed the scandal involving a Las Vegas strip club owner, his lobbyist and three San Diego city councilmen, as well as the disgraceful fall of former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, who received bribes from defense contractors.

“It just wasn't working,” Fulhorst said of the city's old lobbying law. “Now if you're paid to contact city officials, you need to register and disclose it immediately.”

There are other changes affecting businesses and large organizations with in-house lobbyists, such as Qualcomm and the Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce. They must register if their employees have 10 or more contacts over 60 days with top city officials.

Lobbyists also must report which council member they have contacted and what they are asking the elected official to do.

They must disclose contacts with city employees who are assistant deputy directors and above and name them.

Under the old laws, lobbyists had to disclose only the decisions they were working to influence and not the outcome sought. They also did not have to reveal who was contacted.

The rules will not affect residents who are trying to process a building plan with a city engineer or conduct other routine business.

“If you're just trying to move through the city bureaucracy and you're not accessing a higher-level manager, the lobbying laws will not affect you or require you to register,” Fulhorst said.

Mitch Berner, who has been a registered lobbyist for eight years, testified before the Ethics Commission in favor of the $1 threshold for requiring registration as a lobbyist.

“I wanted to make it simpler, more stringent and easier to follow and understand,” Berner said. “If it's $1, nobody has an excuse not to comply.”

What he considered unfair was the requirement that lobbyists disclose if they've hosted fundraisers and made campaign donations while nonlobbyists are not required to do so.

He cited the example of a developer who holds a fundraiser and hits up his subcontractors, architects and others to give money to a candidate.

“They're putting that unique burden on us,” said Berner, who hopes the commission will consider the change when updating the city's campaign-disclosure ordinance.